Episode 60: Toolbox Tuesday - Stop Doing Non-Doctor Tasks

From Pivot Dental Solutions by Jennifer Paxton

November 11, 2025 · 13 min

About this episode

Dr. Sten Ericson discusses the importance of delegation in dental practices and how non-doctor tasks hinder efficiency.

Welcome back to Toolbox Tuesday! We continue our candid series where Dr. Sten Ericson shares his unexpected findings after returning to full-time clinical practice this past summer. Last week, we discussed doctor complaints about assistants. This week, we tackle the flip side: How doctors are actively enabling their teams to underperform and sabotaging their own efficiency. Dr. Ericson and Jennifer Paxton dive deep into the specific non-doctor tasks (like Slacking X-rays or emailing patients) that are stealing critical production time from associate doctors and why they hold onto this unnecessary control. The issue isn't a lack of team ability; it's a lack of doctor delegation. What We Discuss in This Episode: Why you should only be doing the tasks that require your license—and nothing else. How constantly taking over tasks (like sending lab cases or Slacking records) prevents your team from ever learning to do it properly. Why a doctor running late often correlates directly with the 20 minutes they spent doing non-clinical, administrative work. How rushing to do a non-doctor task at the end of the day (like post-processing a scan) actually lowers quality compared to a properly…

People in this episode

Host: Jennifer Paxton

Guest: Dr. Sten Ericson

Topics covered

delegation
efficiency
team performance
non-doctor tasks
clinical practice
dental assistants

Keywords

delegation
dental practice
non-clinical work
team efficiency
administrative tasks
doctor control
assistant ownership

Episode 60: Toolbox Tuesday - Stop Doing Non-Doctor Tasks

About this episode

People in this episode

Topics covered

Keywords

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